An inquest jury has recommended specialist training for gardaí around the influence of intoxicants after it heard that a man died while in custody as a result of multiple drug toxicities.
Kevin Dempsey, a 39-year-old father of one from Coolock, Co Dublin, was arrested under a bench warrant on the morning of November 29th, 2019, and was brought to the Criminal Courts of Justice from Coolock Garda station.
Garda Ciaran Upton, who arrested, charged and transported Mr Dempsey said he “seemed fine” on arrest, and that he was lucid and engaging in conversation.
The inquest heard, however, that Mr Dempsey’s demeanour changed significantly throughout his time in custody and he was slurring his speech.
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It heard that Mr Dempsey had difficulty putting on his clothes and shoes back on before leaving Coolock Garda station, with gardaí believing he had taken several Xanax pills, as stated by his partner who was also taken into custody under bench warrant.
Mr Dempsey and his partner denied taking other drugs while his partner expressed no concern as his demeanour changed, the inquest heard.
Garda Upton recalled him snoring loudly, coming in and out of a deep sleep while in the Garda van, saying he was “trying to keep his attention, keep him alert”.
At one stage, a sleeping Mr Dempsey fell to the floor while sitting on a bench in the van.
Garda Upton and Garda Ronan Murphy felt Mr Dempsey was unfit to attend court and, still believing he was under the influence of Xanax, planned to wait until the courts returned from lunch before bringing him in, believing it would wear off by that point.
Garda Murphy told the inquest that, in his 20 years as a guard, he had never been in a situation before in which he struggled to wake up a prisoner on arrival to a courthouse.
Although deeming him unfit to attend court at the time, Garda Upton said he was not concerned for Mr Dempsey’s wellbeing, saying he would have called for an ambulance if he was.
While Garda Upton was inside the courts, Garda Murphy noticed that Mr Dempsey had stopped snoring, that he was not physically breathing and that his face had lost colour.
Emergency services resuscitated himbefore he was transferred to the Mater hospital.
Mr Dempsey’s condition deteriorated in the ICU due to progressive swelling of the brain, which led to two separate strokes. He was pronounced dead on December 3rd.
Chief State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan said he had taken heroin, cocaine, cannabis, methadone and benzodiazepines, according to a toxicology report.
She recorded the cause of death as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy due to cardiorespiratory arrest as a result of multiple drug toxicities.
Garda Upton and Garda Murphy noted they had received no training surrounding the signs of illicit drugs, nor their effects, with Garda Murphy at the time googling: “What is Xanax?” .
An investigation was carried out by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc), with investigating officer Donal Grant saying although there was CCTV installed in the van, the storage card within was faulty and had captured no footage of the incident.
No actions were taken following the investigation, though Mr Grant acknowledged the “lack of training for members”, as referenced by the Garda witnesses, which he described as something that “could be addressed”.
The jury returned a verdict of misadventure, before commending Mr Dempsey’s family for their decision to donate his organs.
It also recommended guidance for the treatment of those in transit while in custody.
A final recommendation by the jury was for regular checks to be carried out on the operability of CCTV in garda vehicles.
Speaking after the inquest, Karen Dempsey said her brother would still be alive if the recommended training was in place.
She said her brother was loved, valued and cherished by his family, and “grew up with the challenge of being different”.
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